“Cash in: To withdraw from a venture by or as if by settling one’s account.”

Paul Offit would like the world to see him as a champion of children’s health and a disinterested observer of controversial issues in autism and vaccine safety. In the view of many in the autism community, he is the worst kind of partisan: a Merck-made millionaire, a determined propagandist for expanding the medical industry’s vaccine profit pool and an active opponent of the need to stop the autism epidemic in its tracks. I will confess my own bias up front: like many autism parents, I hope and trust that history will bestow the fullest possible measure of shame on Offit, a man who so richly deserves it.

But lest we ever risk losing the central point here, it’s worth stating clearly: Paul Offit has made millions of dollars in the vaccine industry he so zealously promotes, in books, in articles and in media appearances. His conflicts of interest are not only obvious, they are florid.

Dan Olmsted and I have reported in considerable detail the many dimensions of Offit’s financial dealings with Merck and the numerous ways in which he has profited personally from his relationship with, Merck, one of the world’s three largest vaccine manufacturers. In our work, although we sought information directly from Offit, he never responded to any direct inquiry. We have, however, benefited from his indirect responses to our reporting: After we wrote “Voting Himself Rich” (see HERE ), Offit revealed new information to more friendly sources on the specific terms of his patent royalty deals, information that allowed us to develop a much more comprehensive understanding of his stake in Merck’s Rotateq® vaccine. In our follow up report, “Counting Offit’s Millions” (see HERE ), we showed how Offit had earned $10 million in royalties through 2009 and stood to gain anywhere from $3-25 million in additional payments, depending on the commercial performance of the Rotateq® franchise.

I went into further detail on Offit’s ongoing financial stake in Rotateq® in a recent report, “the Offit Index” (see HERE ). This report was based on an important disclosure Offit made to reporter Amy Wallace in late 2009. According to Wallace, “Offit acknowledges that he received a payout — ‘several million dollars, a lot of money’ …last year…He continues to collect a royalty each year.” When we wrote “Counting Offit’s Millions,” this annual royalty was the most difficult piece of Offit’s cash flow to estimate. Because of its size and importance, I wrote “The Offit Index” to further characterize the Offit’s ongoing annual royalty payments and how they might vary going forward based on Rotateq®’s commercial trajectory.

Shortly after we published “The Offit Index,” Offit responded indirectly yet again, making another new and surprising revelation to a friendly blogger. In an email the blogger claimed to receive, Offit wrote, “Just for the record: I no longer financially benefit from the sales of RotaTeq. My financial interests in that vaccine have been sold out by either The Wistar Institute, The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia [CHOP], or me.”

One word in this sentence, “me”, provided important new information. In “Counting Offit’s Millions” we described in some detail the sale of royalty streams by Wistar and CHOP. But the report that Offit’s “financial interests in that vaccine have been sold out by…me” was entirely new.

So between his interview with Amy Wallace in October 2009 and January 2011, Offit cashed in, effectively settling his account with Merck on Rotateq®. How did that account turn out when all was said and done? In brief, here’s a recap of what we know about the millions Offit has received from Merck, including an estimate of the last piece of cash Offit may have received on his own recent sale.

1. The CHOP payout from the Royalty Pharma sale-- $6.2 million. On April 24, 2008, CHOP sold its royalty interest in Rotateq® for $182 million to Royalty Pharma. The vaccine’s three inventors shared roughly 10% of the proceeds, with Offit’s share coming to slightly less than $6.2 million according to our calculations. This was the “several million dollars, a lot of money” that Offit acknowledged receiving to Amy Wallace.

2. Royalty payouts from CHOP prior to the Royalty Pharma sale-- $0.5 million. One thing Offit didn’t disclose to Amy Wallace was that Royalty Pharma only purchased the rights to CHOP’s royalty stream “from and after October 1, 2007.” That means that Offit received a share of royalty payments from Merck to CHOP that occurred before the Royalty Pharma deal: revenue from Rotateq®’s introduction in early 2006 through the third quarter of 2007. We estimated that Offit’s share of this revenue stream came to roughly $450,000.

3. The Wistar payout from the Paul Capital Royalty Fund-- $2.3 million. On December 15, 2005, The Wistar Institute sold a portion of its Rotateq® royalty to Paul Capital for $45 million. In this deal, the inventor share was set at to 15%, higher than the CHOP deal, giving Offit a 5% share of the Wistar payout, or $2.25 million.

4. Royalty payouts from the royalty stream that Wistar did not sell to Paul Capital--$1.0 million. The Wistar Institute’s deal with Paul Capital gives it an ongoing interest in Merck’s Rotateq® program, and Offit was entitled to 5% of these ongoing royalties as well. Assuming that Offit held onto these rights through the end of 2009 (a reasonable assumption since Amy Wallace reported in her October 2009 article that Offit “continues to receive a royalty each year”), we then estimated that Offit earned an additional $1 million in royalty payments via Wistar through the end of 2009.

5. Offit’s payout from the sale of his Wistar royalty stream--$7.5 million est. ($3-20 million range). Sometime between Offit’s interview with Amy Wallace in late 2009 and his disclosure last month that his “financial interests in that vaccine have been sold out by…me,” Offit completed a new transaction. He sold off his rights to a revenue stream that we estimated could come to anything from $3-25 million, depending on the commercial success of Rotateq®. It was this royalty stream--Offit’s ongoing interest in Merck’s commercial fortunes--that prompted me to write “The Offit Index.” Now, it appears, Offit has cashed in his Merck account and withdrawn from the Rotateq® venture, a disclosure that (sadly, because it would have been fun to track) eliminates the need for “The Offit Index.”

But, as is his tendency, Offit did not disclose the amount of this sale. How much might it have been? If we take the simplest approach and set the value of the Wistar royalty equal to the CHOP royalties (roughly $195 million if one adds pre-October 2007 royalties to the Royalty Pharma payment of $182 million), then Offit might have received $7.5 million on this final sale (or 5% of the CHOP benchmark of $195 million less the $45 million Wistar received from Paul Capital).

Adding it all up, we can summarize just how rich Rotateq® has made Offit. At a minimum, Offit earned $10 million from Merck through 2009. On top of this, Offit has now cashed in another bonus that is likely worth millions after selling off his remaining position. The simplest calculation (the real number could be higher or lower, only Offit knows for sure) of $7.5 million puts one estimate of Offit’s total yield on Rotateq® at over $17 million.

That’s almost certainly among the largest amounts ever paid to a vaccine inventor, placing Offit in a category all his own. Offit likes to think all of this money is just a happy dividend, “a fluke” as he told Amy Wallace, of his life’s work protecting children from infectious disease. But for autism parents, these millions are Exhibit A in the case for Offit as a shill, the vaccine industry’s most prolific propagandist.

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Just an imput from someone whose life was totally changed through thye MMR. My belief is that without before and after MRIs, there can be no absolute proof! At age 5, I was given the MMR booster. within a small amount of time (~16hrs), the pain in my fore arms kept me awake so that the only way I could sleep was when my father rocked me. (He worked 2 full time jobs to support his family, so when he could come home for lunch and rock me, I slept). Long term studies: NONE! only with studies that last longer than the emergency room discharge is a long term study! Only when doctors do not lie: My wife was told with her first son the Seizures were not seizures, but a fear reaction by her son, to her dogs. Only after 25 years when we got married, and we obtained the medical records from Children's Hospital of Buffalo, New York, did we find out that her eldest son had over 25 more seizures in the neurological department when they were examining him. (I didn't know they snuck the dogs into the neurology department back then-silly me!). And, It took "call 4 action" to actually get MY medical records. Up till then, I only received what looked like pure black pages of nothing! Then, in 1998, I had the pleasure of uncontrolable, painful seizures that remain totally unexplained (with the exception of the neurologist's question: "What severe childhood illness did you have?" Nothing but the MMR booster! which left me with scarring in the brain, demeyelination of the nerves and left me with lifelong ASTHMA and allergies, along with the unknown possibilities of what may happen in the future. That is all!

Geoff- I am afraid that you have been brainwashed by your medical training and perhaps by the AMA,AAP etc. but where are your critical thinking skills? Surely you can see just by reading the titles of those studies that supposedly prove that vaccines are not implicated in autism, that they do no such thing. Those studies look at 1 vaccine, MMR, or 1 ingredient, thimerasol. Vaccines are plural and the list of ingredients is also. Why have physicians such as yourself been misled into thinking that the research on vaccines is complete? The subjects in those studies have all been vaccinated as well. So, what do they prove? Without a control group of unvaccinated children, they prove NOTHING. The only type of study that will either exonerate or indict vaccines as a causative factor in autism is a study comparing vaccinated to unvaccinated children. This seems like such common sense but the medical and scientific community fight against it repeatedly. Are they afraid what it might show? As to Dr. Wakefield, you must take the time to read his defense of the allegations made by Brian Deer. You must also ask yourself why Wakefield is being demonized in the press. After all, he only wrote a case study of 12 sick children. He listened to the parents, as any good doctor should do, and saw to the treatment of the sick children, which is his duty as a doctor who honors the Hippocratic oath. You need to do much more research into this topic, and if you treat children, it would behoove you to pay attention to what the parents have to say. They may not always be 100% correct, but they surely know their children better than anyone else. Doctors are much too full of themselves nowadays.

I would really like to know what treatment the children who died of whopping cough got. What anitbiotic was prescribed to them. I don't go to pediatricians but I heard from my sister that her peditrician gave her daughter an anitbiotic for a sore throat with the warning that it is "dangerous" could cause "heart problems." Really? I'll take the sore throat.

Geoff-- you have not read the evidence nor the studies. As for pertussis, vaccinated individuals can carry it asymptomatically and transmit it: it's on the vaccine insert. Most of the cases of pertussis in CA were among vaccinated individuals and the vaccine is not very effective, since no permanent immunity can be gained from it. It also comes with the diphtheria and tetanus vaccine, the combination of which may actually damage immunity for some susceptible individuals. If they want more people to take the pertussis vaccine, they could offer it in a single dose and clean up the ingredients. And offer it for no profit-- if "caring about children's health" is the only motive.

The money pediatricians make is from prescribing asthma medication to children, Ritalin, antipsychotics, antidepressants, antianxiety drugs, insulin, antibiotics for the massive increase in chronic infections among children which have all risen in nearly direct proportion to increase in the number of shots.

When I was a child, the pediatrician's office-- which every kid in my class went to-- was always empty. Our pediatrician lived well but modestly. He had no complaints and his patents were healthy. I received 7 vaccines between age 3 and age 10 and that was it. I was rarely ill, never had a chronic condition, took no medication. My husband, from South America, received three vaccines and was never ill because he was middle class. Everyone in Latin America at the time knew living in poverty and drinking sewage promoted disease.
Now the mainstream ped we take our kids to for rare coughs or infections-- we call them the "grease monkeys" and go to specialists for the important issues-- is always packed. 1 in 10 with asthma. 1 in 50 with life threatening peanut allergies. 1 in 48 in our state with autism. 1 in 6 with druggable behavior disorders. Too much diabetes, chronic infections, seizures, JRA, you name it. There are backend profits to the current excessive vaccine schedule that industry doesn't talk about and neither do you.

You should do the right thing, like Dr. Wakefield did. He made no money from lawyers (all donated to the Royal Free) or from Transfer Factor (the patent for the goats-milk like immune factor owned by the Royal Free). His book probably made enough to buy a stripped down Toyota because even bestsellers won't pay the mortgage. He actually made sacrifices for children's health and is a role model, not a cautionary tale. Your self pity and fear mongering falls on deaf ears.

I just ask that you please extend your passion for fighting infectious disease to the autism crisis. While I don't want to minimize the loss of those 10 children due to pertussis, we have a much more pressing crisis on our hands. Autism. The CDC reports that 1 in 70 boys in the US now carries the dx. There's been a 600% increase in the last 20 years. A child is diagnosed every 20 minutes.

Autism is just as devastating as polio. Our kids are disabled. Many cannot talk and will never be able to function independendently. They need medical help.

This is not all about vaccines it's about getting our kids medical treatment. We need doctors like you to support our families and children not fight with us. Let's keep the focus on helping the kids.

Since you are a physician, I would ask that you please research the link between autism and Mitochondrial disease. It's been repoted that many of our children have been an underlying mitochondrial dysfunction. Many of our kids symptoms are behavioral symptoms of an underlying problem with cellular energy.

There is good information on the MitoAction. org and UMDF.org web sites. UC Davis MIND Institute, Mitochondrial Medicine Society and the Cleveland Clinic are also good resources. Guidance for physicians on testing and treatment protocols are available on these web sites as well.

Here's some recent articles on the link:

65% Autistic Children Found To Have Mitochondrial Disorder Oxidative Phosphorylation (OXPHOS) Defects in Children with Autistic Spectrum Disorders

Benedetta, There's been a wealth of published reports citing the horrors of the DPT - now called DTaP for "acellular Pertussis".

The pertussis antigen in the original DPTs that killed/crippled so many was replaced by an "artificial" pertussis - thus, the carnage has been lowered a great deal.

I am so sorry for your tragedy(ies); I come from the luckiest generation having but 3 shots or so at age 4-6. We kids naturally came down with mumps, chickenpox, measles, german measles, whatever - recovered easily with only love and nutrition. All very healthy ever since.

We DID NOT come down with diagnostic typhus or diphtheria in our early years though we were most probably exposed to them, but with exercise and sunshine) we were fine; The shots we did get at age 4+ were silly.

There is much written about the folly of tetanus vaccination; bottom line: It's 99.9% risk, .1% possible benefit.

Any vaccines, the few that can be somehow justified, should come after a baby is at least 2 years old. Anytime before is irrational.

Neither of the studies that you cite actually support your position. See www.fourteenstudies.org for further information.

In addition, as others here would undoubtedly inform you, those studies concern ONE vaccine and ONE vaccine ingredient. What evidence do you have regarding ALL of the OTHER ingredients in each of the vaccines on the recommended schedule? Ingredients such as aluminum, formaldehyde, etc. Please cite sources.

Please cite studies that prove the existence of "herd immunity" in VACCINATED populations and at what point it allegedly takes effect for each disease on the recommended schedule.

Regarding Dr. Andrew Wakefield, the supposed "evidence" is not what you claim. It consists of allegations from ONE journalist - who apparently obtained confidential medical records without the consent of the patient's parents. That journalist has therefore committed an unethical, if not illegal, act. Dr. Wakefield did not falsify anything.

Didn't a past article on Age of Autism talk about this whooping cough vaccine and it discussed the fact- FACT- that the old DPT shot that took my family's health, intelligence, hope for a long and prosperous life was not the right vaccine for this killer strain of pertusisn?

Ah, yes, I think so. Even James Cherry was opening his pie hole again and speaking. We all think evil here is Offit, well he is the newer version of evil, while James Cherry is the older version of evil --- but anyway.

James Cherry did not agreeeeee that it is a new strain of pertussin because????---- well he is an idiot that has been put as a dictator over us all for a very long time. I suppose he will die warm and cozy in his bed of nothing more than very old age just like King Herod who killed in one city every child under 2 years old in the attempt to kill the baby Jesus. Why God lets these evil people wonder to and fro and even seems to bless them with riches and power I haven't a clue?

The California Whooping Cough (pertussis) deaths last year comprised 10 infants total. Eight were in Hispanic families and died before the age of 6 months (so would not have been vaccinated as the shot comes at 6 months earliest). The ninth infant was also possibly Hispanic and also a preemie and indeed vaccinated with a pertussis shot 2 weeks before he died. There is no info on how long they were in the U.S. and whether they were legal or illegal immigrants.

This comes straight from the Cal. Dept of Health and their Report from Oct-Nov, 2010. The tenth infant I have no information.

I have written on how dangerous the nucleoside analogue drug called Ribavirin (aka Rebetol in Mexico where it is commonly sold over the counter like Tylenol) and even recommended by Mexican Health Authorities for the common flu; however, it ALWAYS causes dose-dependent anemia, fatal if persistently given. We have no idea what risky medications were first given by parents, and then by U.S. health providers (that may also have had toxic/fatal reactions).

I would also be very surprised if these infants were not victims of iatrogenic drugs - what's new?

I have a comment pending but I will try to answer some of the excellent questions/comments posted below.

If you don't know what causes autism, how can know something doesn't?
-Well I must admit that I cannot say truly 100% for sure, absolutely that vaccines do not cause autism, in the same way I can't say gravity exists 100% for sure, absolutely. But I can say that the odds are extremely high that they do not, so high it can almost, almost be considered fact.
This in in fact quite logical. If you take thousands, and I mean many thousands(hundreds of thousands), of children and you use statistics to look for a connection between the vaccine and the proposed side effect, i.e. autism, you can assess the likelihood of that association. It is actually rare for evidence of this scale to be so clear in the medial literature. Below are only a few of the very large studies showing no link.

Population-Based study(500,000 children) showing no difference in autism between those exposed to thimerasol and not.
-Hviid A, Stellfeld M, Wohlfahrt J, Melbye M. Association between thimerosal-containing vaccine and autism. Journal of the American Medical Association 2003;290:1763-1766.

Here is a study of 300,000 showing an increase in autism spectrum disorders despite with-holding MMR vaccine
-Honda H, Shimizu Y, Rutter M. 2005. No effect of MMR withdrawal on the incidence of autism: a total population study. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 46(6):572–79.

If vaccines are effective why do those who are vaccinated still get sick?
-Well, they get sick because they catch the disease. How do they catch it? They are exposed. Why are they exposed? Someone around them exposed them. Influenza vaccine as an example is around 90% effective give or take a percent or two. This means that your risk is decreased by that much if you get the vaccine. In other words while it greatly decreases risk, it is not fool proof. In comes herd immunity. By vaccinating a certain percentage of the population this decreased risk becomes enough to stop the person to person spread of the virus. This is why despite never having a one hundred percent vaccination rate in the U.S. most of the diseases we vaccinate against are rare, though this is changing. This is why kids who are vaccinated against diseases get the diseases they are vaccinated against...too many kids aren't vaccinated and somebody gets exposed thus starting an outbreak, which then causes them to be exposed, i.e. California and whooping cough.

What is loose? LOOSE describes the screws in the heads that think our children are pincushions for anything that comes out of the pharma factory. LOOSE describes how people are playing with the rule of first do no harm. LOOSE describes the grip on reality of doctors like yourself .

To which studies are you referring? The studies that I have seen that supposedly prove "no connection" do nothing of the sort and are methodologically flawed. Math can indeed be argued with - it is incredibly easy to bias a sample, whether accidentally or purposefully. Please cite the studies that support your position.

Also, you are vaccinating children when they come in for a "well baby" visit. Is the cost of the vaccination (ie. the price that the supplier charges you) more than you are charging for the office visit? If not, then you are not losing money.

As for your anecdotal evidence regarding the pregnant women and their unborn children who you watched die from influenza, did they have any underlying medical conditions? Did you have medical testing performed in order to be able to state so vehemently that it was indeed influenza that was the cause of their deaths?

With regard to whooping cough in California (I assume that is what you are referring to), there have been news reports that a very large portion of the people who are getting it are completely up to date on their vaccinations. If I remember correctly the percentages - by county - were 40% to 70%. Do you have evidence that contradicts this? If so, please cite your sources.

At a minimum, vaccines are not safe for everyone. There are documented adverse reactions. In addition, there is evidence that indicates that vaccines can cause autism. I would suggest you investigate the matter further.

Geoff- My guess is that you are repeating what your professional organizations have told you about vaccines and autism and Dr. Wakefield. You obviously haven't actually read any of the research or you would not make the statements that you have. If you don't know what DOES cause autism, how can you know what DOESN'T cause it? Do you not see how illogical such a statement is? If you can cite a study that proves that vaccines don't cause autism, everyone reader of AoA would like to read it. Also, before you indict Dr. Wakefield for committing fraud, you should be prepared to back up your statements with proof. Exactly how was his case study of 12 sick children a fraud? How has he personally profited from this case study? By losing his license? If you are a pediatrician, I suggest that you really do your homework on the subject of vaccines before you sicken any more children with your UNPROVEN treatments. I was shocked when I discovered that there was absolutely NO PROOF that vaccines are safe...and that the belief in the safety of vaccines was based entirely upon SUPPOSITION. My guess is that you will find more actual proof that LIFESTYLE CHANGES , such as waste disposal, cleaner water, more abundant food, screening of windows, etc. are responsible for the decline of infectious diseases rather than widespread vaccination. PROPAGANDA has tried to convince the populace otherwise.

@Geoff,
'lives truly are at stake' ??
You just summed it all up in that one sentence. You'd better believe lives are at stake here. You're telling this to an ever-increasing number of parents whose children's lives have for all intents and purposes been thrown away, as a result of the vaccination policies you practice and promote. Lives most certainly are at stake here - the lives of every newborn and toddler today who might succumb to the debilitating and/or fatal reactions of those vaccines you and those like you are handing out like candy.

Lives are at stake here, and that is exactly why we are not shutting up and we are not going away.

I'm a physician, I loose money when I vaccinate children. Reimbursement is terrible but I do it because it saves lives and I care about the health of the children I care for. Just like an acupuncturist or chiropractor my practice must be a viable business to stay open and see patients. Just because there are financial nuances to staying open doesn't mean you have questionable motives. Do you work for free? Few of us have that privilege.

If you invent a safe vaccine that saves lives, a few million is a paltry sum for your dedication and time. How much do you think Dr. Oz or Andrew Weil make on their alternative medicine or anti-vaccination recommendations. How much do you think Wakefield made? Millions. And he was clearly a fraud, shamelessly promoting bad information he knew was fraudulent, the evidence is indisputable.

Lets be fair here. Please stop the misinformation, lives truly are at stake. 10 infants in California have died this year so far of a disease that until recently had been all but vanquished in the US. I personally took care of two pregnant women and their unborn children who died a horrible death before my eyes of influenza. They were not vaccinated. We don't know what cause autism, but we do know it is not vaccines. Go read the real evidence, it is clear that vaccinations do not cause autism. Go find the large scale well controlled studies. Its quite clear. Hard to argue with the math.

There is a reason small pox is gone, human life expectancy has been dramatically increased and you haven't seen a case of polio if you were born in the last 40 years.

Colbert always talks to people like he talked to Offit. I thought the interview, with Colbert's questions planned in advance, gave Offit the perfect opportunity to spew his lies without any real opposition. Unfair to say the least. But no better than Gates' interview on the Daily show right before. Both were unfair propaganda pieces in favor of vaccines for everyone. I've said this before--that Bill Maher would be a much better venue for our side.
maurine

I don't think Stephen Colbert of the Colbert report was buying the whole herd immunity discussion that Paul Offit was handing out. Stephen posed the natural immunity idea and made Paul Offit sound like a Joke! This was comedy Central right? This is a very serious issue turned into a bad joke that backfired! and Bill Gates passes this off as a good thing with the 3 drops of polio vaccine in third world countries. Ok, Bill, where is the study on the efficacy of this vaccine, the ingredients, and risk warnings???? Ok, we are waiting! Polio is 99% over so why use it? Which is it Bill; healthier people will have less chilldren, or is it dead people will have no children! 2 guesses!

My 3 year old son received the rotavirus vaccine, and came down with rotavirus TWICE within the scope of a six month period. Of course this was well before he received his diagnosis of Autism at 18 months. He also received the varicella vaccine and came down with chicken pox two weeks later. Ironically, my son's "tipping point" was when he was given the ADULT dosage of the flu vaccine at 6 months of age. His decline was swift, and is immortalized in videos we shot of him during his first two years. Had I known then what I know now, I would have opted to decline all vaccines from the start, as Hunter is a shining example of what happens when vaccines go wrong. Unfortunately, we connected the dots far too late, and when we made the decision to stop vaccinating, the damage had already been done...in spades.
I wonder if Dr. Offit would see things differently if he actually SAW these children in his practice instead of sitting in his ivory tower, casting stones on the parents trying to undo the damage that his precious pharma machine has had a willing hand in creating. Since he is more interested in doing fluff interviews, selling books and demonizing beleaguered Autism parents than he appears to be in adhering to the oath he took as a doctor, I suppose we'll never know.

If Offit is "doing this for the children," that he is so concerned for, why does he not donate the whole thing to the third world countries that cannot afford it? We are the only country who really fills his pockets with royalties and we are certainly the main country with the least possible need for it! No child with severe diarrhea and or deyhdration would be turned away at a hospital in the US.